Science a Friend or a Foe of Man?

Points: Negative role of science — Positive rote of science —Responsibility of man.

             We are living in a precarious world today. Atom bombs are being stockpiled by the two super-powers competing with each other. If there be any third world war, that will spell the total destruction of mankind. Science has given man the weapons to kill the entire human race within a short time. So there is a tendency to damn science as an enemy of man.
             But human civilization would hardly have been what it is today without the achievements of science. Television and wireless bring the world to our doors. There is hardly any disease which the doctors cannot cure today. And all this is due to science. Science by itself is neither a friend nor an enemy of man. If man is wise he can easily make this world a much better place to live in. Already the scientists are talking of “atoms for peace.” That is the most hopeful sign of our times. It shows that the enlightened sections of mankind are against using science for war or destruction.
             Man should not only have knowledge but also wisdom to make proper use of his knowledge of science. Our education should teach us values, not merely information. For it is the kind of man which will determine the kind of society and the kind of the world we have.

India in Space Age

Points: History of space flight — Indian advances in space technology — Achievement of mankind.

             ‘Twinkle twinkle little star/How I wonder what you are’. The nursery rhyme says that the stars and planets have been to us perpetual wonder and mystery. When Uri Gagarin’s ‘Vostok’  first shot out to move around the earth’s orbit in April 1961, the world gasped with wonder. Only in a month’s dine after that, Commander Shepherd of U.S.A. went into the orbit with his space-ship. In June 1963 a Russian lady Tereskova sailed through the outer space and exchanged talks with cosmonaut Bikovosky already in orbit. About the same time, Gordon Cooper circled the earth 22 times. Then man landed on the Moon. Since then attempts to probe Mars, Venus and other planets are continuing. 
             India is now making rapid advances in space technology. Our Haricota space centre is well equipped and is doing researches on satellites and space morning. In collaboration with Russia India is launching her own space-ships. A time will soon come when India will be self-sufficient in space science and use her own launching pad to put her space-ship into the orbit from Indian soil. Rakesh Sharma has already become the first Indian spaceman; we are proud of him.
             This great achievement belongs not to any particular nation but to mankind as a whole. H. G. Wells while writing his history, had a vision. With the earth as his foot-stool, he dreamt, man would one day reach out his hand among the stars. Space flight is indeed mankind’s flight into the future.